How to draw a leather jacket

Outwear is something that many aspiring designers avoid including in their fashion sketches because they are not very sure how to draw it. In this tutorial you will learn how to draw a leather jacket for your collection and see how easy and fun it can be. We will combine the knowledge gained from “How to draw leather pants” and “How to draw a jacket” tutorials to create something unique and beautiful. Have fun!

Step 1: Drawing the fashion figure

Start by drawing your model. Take your time and make sure the figure is proportional. The well-drawn fashion figure is the base for a good-looking design. ‘How to draw the female torso” will help you in case you have difficulties.

Step 2: Outwear with some volume

Draw the shape of the jacket around the figure. This step is very important. When drawing outwear you need to remember that it is not close to the body. There should be enough space between the body and the jacket outline for a sweater underneath

Notice how boxy is the leather jacket around the waist. Most rocker jackets will be drawn like this. Yet if you want to design something more fitted – go ahead, but remember to still leave air between the body and the garment.

Step 3: Almost centered

First, erase all the unnecessary lines in your drawing – the model body is no longer visible.In this particular example, the zipper of the leather jacket will be moved to the side. Find the figure centerline and draw a line about halfway to the jacket outline. Draw the hemline of the sleeves and the waistline and mind that they are curves, not straight lines.

Step 4: Collar guidelines

Start from the place where the neck and the left shoulder joint and draw a diagonal to the moved centerline. Add the right side of the collar and notice that it goes toward the real Centerline instead of the new one. Draw curved lines on the shoulders to mark the place where the sleeves connect to the body.

Step 5: Drawing the collar

This is a different approach to drawing the collar from what you know from “How to draw a jacket”. The first step is to draw a soft line indicating how big the collar of the jacket will be. Make sure the left and the right side are symmetrical.

Step 6: Adding detail

The second step is to cut two triangles out of the shape you just made. The placement of the triangles is close to the collarbone.

Step 7: Drawing stitches

One of the things that will make your sketch really look like a leather jacket is the stitching details. Add stitches to the inner part of the sleeves, around the collar and the hem of the sleeves.

Most outwear jackets have these horizontal hems under the shoulders – keep this in mind when designing.

Step 8: Draw the fabric wrinkles

The wrinkles on leather fabric are more sharp and edgy shapes instead of soft. Draw some wrinkles and folds around the elbows.

Step 9: Draw a leather jacket that looks unique

Zippers and buttons are what ca make a basic design into something truly unique. Draw a zipper over the new Centerline and add shorter ones to indicate the pockets.

Step 10: Coloring

As you know from the “How to draw leather pants” tutorial the easiest way to replicate leather fabric is by leaving shiny parts in irregular shapes close to the outline. This is how the leather jacket will be colored too.

The shiny parts around the edges don’t need to be white – you can use very light color from the same color family as the main color of the jacket.

Step 11: Adding shadows

The shadows can be drawn with a black pencil touching very lightly and building up the color. Make darker the area below the collar, the right side of the jacket underneath the zipper and everywhere you’ve drawn folds.

Step 12: Light magic

This last step is optional but it will add even more realism to your drawing. Make tiny lines in white color here and there to show the most illuminated spots. Work carefully – you don’t want too much shine.

This was a technique to help you draw a basic leather jacket. Use it as a foundation to build amazing collections of motorbike jackets for bad boys and girls or just to add something interesting to your fashion sketch.

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